Breaking News

Fire destroys house in Sinking Valley

A pre-dawn fire Wednesday destroyed a house in the woods off Kettle Road in southern Sinking Valley, just past the village of Elberta. The man who lived there was at his third-shift job when the fire occurred, but his dog died in the blaze, according to Dave Miller, assistant chief at Sinking ...

Williamsburg Community School Board weighs removing trees at elementary school

WILLIAMSBURG — Dead trees and the costs associated with removing them was a topic of discussion for the Williamsburg Community School Board on Tuesday evening. The trees behind the elementary playground are dead and the equipment area has been closed for safety reasons, as some of those dead trees fell into the playground over the summer. Board members spent time discussing the pros and cons, and the price tag, of removing only the problem trees or clearing out a 30- to 40-foot section, starting around the basketball court along the back woods and around the kindergarten ...

Altoona woman pleads guilty to charges of embezzlement

A city woman who served as the secretary-treasurer for the American Postal Workers Union Local 776 plead guilty Tuesday to federal embezzlement charges after a yearslong investigation into union financial records revealed about $50,000 in misappropriated funds. Nicole DeStefano, 52, appeared ...

Federal reserve hikes key rate

WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate Wednesday for the first time since 2023 in an effort to quell stubbornly high inflation and the central bank also signaled that another rate hike could occur later this year. The quarter-point increase lifts the Fed’s key ...

Blair County Convention Center operating in black

The Blair County Convention Center’s net operating income for the first eight months of 2026 came in at $186,962, despite higher-than-budgeted costs for labor, food and beverages. In a financial report offered Wednesday to the authority that oversees the convention center, CEO Tom Schilling reported revenue through August at $1.94 million and expenses at $1.75 million. The report also identified higher-than-budgeted labor costs of nearly 38%, and higher-than-budgeted expenses for food and beverages of nearly 22% and 24%, respectively. But those increases, according to the report, ...